In an afternoon media briefing regarding the coronavirus pandemic Wednesday afternoon, President Trump reiterated his intent to send federal agents to Chicago and Albuquerque to quell outbreaks of violence, the Washington Post reports.
In an announcement earlier in the day, Trump claimed that his order was to counter the effort to reform local police departments.
“In recent weeks, there’s been a radical movement to defund, dismantle and dissolve our police departments. Extreme politicians have joined this anti-police crusade and relentlessly vilified our law enforcement heroes,” Trump read from a prepared statement. “To look at it from any standpoint, the effort to shut down policing in their own communities has led to a shocking explosion of shootings, killings, murders and heinous crimes of violence.”
While no one in office or running for office has suggesting “dissolv[ing]” all police departments nationally, a movement has taken hold to demilitarize police and provide additional social service and public health responders other than armed police.
Asked during the coronavirus update why Trump is now blaming local mayors for violent outbreaks in their cities when in 2016, he blamed President Obama for the violence, Trump responded, “[Obama] didn’t do anything. He could have, but he didn’t.”